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Friday, 16 September 2016

I went on a shopping trip the other day and of course what
happens when you go and randomly browse the shops? Yes, you come back with
something completely random. And that’s exactly what happened to me. I went
shopping with my best friend and we made the mistake of going in the cookware
shop in town which had a few discount baskets…and the next thing I knew I’d
left the shop with a cookie stamp, with which you can stamp your very own messages
onto your bakes. Before I picked this little gem up I didn’t need anything but
once it was in my hand I just couldn’t imagine my baking cupboard without it.
So of course I had to make some biscuits to test it out.

I used the basic biscuit dough recipe on the BBC website (find it here), but
tweaked it a little, halving the butter and sugar, adding a tad more flour but
keeping the same amount of egg. The basic biscuit dough on the BBC website is
just a canvas, upon which you can add whatever flavours you want. I chose lemon
and white chocolate.

These biscuits are perfect for a light afternoon treat with
your cuppa.

Ingredients

125g softened butter

70g caster sugar

1 egg yolk

160g plain flour

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Zest of a lemon

100g white chocolate

Method:

1)Grease and line a baking tray with grease-proof
paper. Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas 4.Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together
until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg yolk and then gradually sieve in the
flour, mixing after each addition. When the dough gets stiffer to stir, get in
there with your hands and gently knead the rest of the flour in. The dough will
be softer than a normal biscuit dough but still mouldable. Wrap the dough in
cling-film and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.

2)Take half of the dough and roll out to the
thickness of a £1 coin. Cut out 3-4 inch rounds with a fluted cookie cutter (I
find the crimped edges these cutters create, hold the melted chocolate a lot
more).

3) If you have a cookie stamp, now would be the
time to use it! Once you’re happy with the design of your biscuits place them
on the baking tray, leaving a few centimetres between each one. Bake for 13-16
minutes until the edges are brown but the tops are only a tiny bit golden.
Leave to cool on a wire rack. You’ll find you need to do about 3 batches of
baking.

4) Place a sheet of grease-proof paper on a couple
of trays. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of
simmering water. Allow to cool a little bit. Take a biscuit and twirl it so
that only the edges get covered in chocolate and then place on the tray to set.
To speed up the setting process, put the biscuits in the fridge for half an
hour.